Method for preparing propellant powder



Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES GEORGE G. HALE AND FRIEDRICH OLSEN, OF DOVER, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD FOR PREPARING PBOPELLANT POWDER.

No Drawing.

Application filed November 6, 1923. Serial No. 673,128.

(GRANTED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883; 22 STAT. L. 625.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE C. HALE and FnEnaIoH OLSEN, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of Dover in the county of Morris and Stateof New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Methods for PreparingPropellant Powder, of which the following is a specification.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any ofits officers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, orby any other person in the United States without payment to me of anyroyalty thereon, in accordance with the act of March 3,1883.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing propellantpowder.

The primary object of our invention is the establishment of a method forincorporating nitroguanidine into nitrocellulose powders.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, our invention resides inthe novel combination of ingredients and in the details of preparationhereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes inthe precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be madewithin the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

Nitroguanidine has manyproperties which indicate its suitability for useas a propellant. For example, it is very stable. is nonhygrosco ic, iseasily ignited and burns quietly without leaving any a preciableresidue. It is, however, a crysta line compound which cannot becolloided by any known solvent to produce a propellant powder similar tocolloided nitrocellulose. It is soluble, however, in certain organiccompounds which serve as colloiding agents for nitrocellulose.

It is the purpose of our invention to use certain materials which serve.as solvents for nitroguanidine and which at the same time may beemployed as colloiding agents for nitrocellulose as a means for carryingnitroguanidine into a nitrocellulose colloid. Experiments have beenconducted with a number of organic materials which serve as solvents fornitroguanidine and which also serve as colloiding agents fornitrocellulose. Thus, for example, it has been found thatparatolylmethylketone, benzaldehyde, diacetin, and urethane, may beemployed to pro-' duce, when nitroguanidine is mixed withnitrocellulose, a propellant which will have properties similar tocolloided nitrocellulose. Such mixtures have been found to giveexccllent results ballistically and at the same time the mixture of thenonhygroscopic nitroguanidine with the ordinary hygroscopicnitrocellulose will almost entirely obviate any danger of deteriorationof the propellant thus prepared due to moisture and dampness.

It is the object of our invention, then, to carry nitroguanidine into anitrocellulose colloid by employing certain materials which serve bothas solvents for the nitrocellulose.

Wherever the word solvent is used throughout the specification or in,the an pended claims, the solvents paratolylmethylketone, benzaldehyde.diacetin, and urethane. are the only solvents intended to be included insuch term.

We claim:

1. A method of incorporating nitroguanidine into a nitrocellulose powderwhich includes treating nitroguanidine with a solvent which serves bothas a solvent for the nitroguanidine and as a colloiding agent for thenitrocellulose.

2. A method of incorporating nitroguanidine into a nitrocellulose powderwhich includes dissolving the nitroguanidine in a. solvent. and thencolloiding nitrocellulose with the solution.

3. A method of incorporating nitroguanidine into a nitrocellulose powderwhich includes treating a mixture of nitroguanidine and nitrocellulosewith a solvent for the nitroguanidine which acts as a oolloiding agentfor the nitrocellulose.

GEORGE C. HALE. FRIEDRICH OLSEN.

